Sump help: what do I do?

[lapin]

I just got my Waterbox 70 gallon reef edition (not marine). And this will be my first sump. I want a refugium and a protein skimmer.
Left side of sump- 2 filter socks. This goes to the middle chamber, here I plan on placing my refugium and heater. Is there a better spot for a heater?
Back right chamber- that will be my return
Front right chamber- that will be my auto top off
Now, where do I put my protein skimmer?

I would make the center chamber the fuge like you planned. Place the skimmer in the same section. Use rock rubble instead of sand. You will need to somehow screen off the skimmer intake so it does not suck up chaeto or snails or what ever is in your fuge.
The heater can go in the return section if there is not room in the middle section.
You could also replace the second filter sock with a media cup as above. Place rock rubble in it and it would act like a mini sump, adding extra filtration. Pods would live in it.

Some info on skimmers if you dont want to run one

Further Studies on Protein Skimmer Performance

Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. Many factors contribute to the 'value' of a skimmer to an aquarist, including quality of construction, size, footprint, noise level, ease of cleaning, energy efficiency of the pump, and of course, the ability...

www.advancedaquarist.com

 

[Dustin1300]

Ideally water that makes it to fuge is clean water free of any organics, so if it were me and I wanted fuge...I'd use the two filter socks as normal (replace frequently) and use middle section for protein skimmer/heater, then back right portion for the return. Front right section can be fuge and then you've filtered organics and you can leverage value of DSB/other fuge elements and not have to disrupt cleaning organics that should have not got there in the first place. How to get water to fuge, I'd vote for T off of the return and just let some of that water T back to the fuge and should not be much flow at all!

 

[Peter Jason]

"How to get water to fuge, I'd vote for T off of the return and just let some of that water T back to the fuge and should not be much flow at all!"

this is all very new to me. Can you elaborate on what you mean by T? I like this idea. I really don't mind getting rid of auto top off, and turning that part into the refugium. However, there's only a small hole that could get water to it. I feel like I would have to drill a hole into that section for water to get there.

 

[W1ngz]

You could always just not have a skimmer at all.

My opinion, you can't do what you want to do effectively with what you have. Even if you took the sump to a glass shop who is able to drill holes in the ATO section, the glass is likely too thin.

The only option I see is somehow fit a panel in the center section and split the space between the skimmer and refugium, but this limits the skimmer choices to really small footprints, and might make the refugium too small to really be effective. Any light on a refugium is going to flow freely all over the sump, and the whole thing will be growing algae everywhere.

Buy another sump and sell that one, have one custom made, or accept the fact that either the skimmer or refugium will have to be a hang-on design.